George Nooks talks his LONG Career and His Double Artiste Personality

Veteran Reggae Gospel artiste George Nooks recently appeared on On stage with Winford Williams and broke down with the host where he has been coming from, in terms of his career and how much he has grown.

The interview with the well-known singer revealed something about him that might have been quite unknown to many people but still something very unique. In 1977 in the early stages of his career, it was disclosed in the talk with Winford Williams that Nooks had two number 1 songs in Jamaica under two separate artiste names.

One name was the usual George Nooks while the other name was the faction of the singer’s personality that could deejay. The “God Is Standing By” artiste said that his deejay name was Prince Mohammad, and it was given to him by Joe Gibbs, who discovered how talented he was while watching him singing on stage then changing his appearance and returning as a deejay.

According to the veteran singer, Joe Gibbs approached him and from that moment they began working together, using the name Prince Mohammad and the double style of performing which he was accustomed to.

Nooks stated that he was angry initially at his new artiste name however, he eventually started to juggle the two names at once.

It was in those early stages of his 48-year-old career, that the singer met one of his mentors, Dennis Brown at the home of legendary guitarist Earl Chinna Smith, in New Haven where he said the now deceased Reggae legend would rehearse before heading to the studio. 

It was there that Nooks said that Brown heard his vocals and loved it, which drew them together as friends and even caused the “Giving Thanks” artiste to follow the vocal style of the then Reggae superstar.

Otherwise from those phenomenal times in the singer’s life when he got his new name and met Dennis Brown, he says he has always been singing in Church and at school concerts, which was also confirmed by Winford Williams who says they went to Oberlin High together.

George Nooks, in recent times, is well famed for his immaculate renditions of gospel songs and as such the On stage host was curious as to how that side of him got kick-started, which the singer was happy to share.

According to Nooks, when he went overseas and came back he was around his grandmother a lot, who he said showed him real love and how to believe in God. It was because of her, the singer said why he began to record gospel music, as she would always ask him to sing Gospel on Sundays.

It was not until she was quite ill, that the entertainer said that his grandmother asked him if he was not going to do a gospel song for her before she passed when he decided to do “God Is Standing By” however, the singer stated that his grandmother did not get to hear it as she was gone by the time the song was ready, nonetheless, George Nooks did go on to be one of the most sensational gospel singers that Jamaica has ever seen.

At this point, Nooks is working on a new album called “Through it all”, which he said was inspired by a song with the same title, done in the past by Andrae Crouch, which sparked his interest due to the current happenings in the world as a result of the Pandemic.

The singer is well known for legendary tracks such as “Ride Out Your Storm”, ” Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “How Great Thou Art” and many others.

Watch the full show and interview below.